easyMultiple Choice
CISA Practice Question: An IS auditor is evaluating the effectiveness of…
An IS auditor is evaluating the effectiveness of an organization's business continuity plan (BCP). Which of the following findings would be of GREATEST concern?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often focus on obvious physical security or documentation issues (like tape storage or outdated contact lists) and underestimate that the absence of testing renders all other BCP components unvalidated, making it the most critical finding from an audit perspective.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The BCP has not been tested in over two years
The BCP has not been tested in over two years is the greatest concern because testing is the only way to validate that the plan works under real-world conditions. Without recent testing, the organization cannot be confident that recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) are achievable, and any gaps or assumptions in the plan remain undiscovered. ISACA standards recommend testing at least annually, and a two-year gap significantly increases the risk of plan failure during an actual disaster.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The backup tapes are stored in a locked cabinet in the server room
Why it's wrong here
On-site tape storage in a locked cabinet leaves backups vulnerable to the same incident that destroys the primary site, defeating the purpose of offsite retention. It would be acceptable only for non-critical data where a local copy suffices and no site-loss scenario is in scope.
- ✗
The BCP contact list has not been updated in six months
Why it's wrong here
A stale contact list delays notification during invocation, which is a documentation maintenance lapse rather than a structural failure of recovery capability. It would be the finding of concern in a plan whose procedures and recovery arrangements were otherwise validated and tested.
- ✓
The BCP has not been tested in over two years
Why this is correct
An untested BCP leaves recovery capability unproven; plan validity, resource adequacy and RTO achievability remain assumptions. Over two years without exercising means environmental, personnel and system changes have invalidated assumptions, so the auditor cannot provide assurance that operations would resume within agreed timeframes during a real disruption.
- ✗
The BCP relies on manual workarounds for critical systems
Why it's wrong here
Manual workarounds may be an accepted, tested component of a continuity strategy for systems with long recovery objectives. The greater concern is untested or absent recovery capability, since manual procedures can be rehearsed and validated like any other control.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CISA practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISACA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CISA exam.